What are they?
Infographics are visual representations of information — ‘information graphics’ — and can take many different forms. They can be timelines, maps, flowcharts, comparisons, hierarchies and lists.
Done well, infographics
- Communicate complex information quickly
- Help audiences to understand data
- Grab attention by looking beautiful and/or striking
- Stay with the audience, because images help us retain information
Process
We can create three types of infographic
1.
A STORY DRIVEN BY DATA
- Based on our own data or publicly available data
- Look for interesting trends or correlations
2.
A STORY SUPPORTED BY DATA
- Based on a hypothesis
- Come up with a hypothesis, then look for data that supports your theory
- Your desk research should help you refine your idea
3.
A STORY WITHOUT DATA
- Based on a narrative, possibly including interview quotes
- Its success rests on the quality of the idea and the design
Other examples: Delayed Gratification McKinsey MoveHub
Other examples: Delayed Gratification Udacity
Other examples: Delayed Gratification BCG
How to write infographics
1. The story is critical
The story is crucial. It should be coherent and compelling: this is not about throwing random data points at the page. Every data point, piece of copy and design element must support the core story. If it doesn’t, leave it out.
So spend time refining your story before you start, and then make sure every piece of copy is essential.
2. Think about your audience
Always take time at the start to think about your intended audience:
- How much do they know about this topic? Do you need to ease them in with a brief explanation?
- Will they understand technical language, or do you need to simplify/explain it?
- What do they want from you? And what do you want from them?
3. Remember visual impact
People don’t want to read infographics. So think about visual impact.
For example, a sentence is a bad way to show off your data — especially when there’s more than one number. Your audience can’t easily compare two numbers that are buried in text.
Instead, line them up in rows or columns. And to emphasise trends or progression, use a chart or graph.
4. Grab them with great headlines
Titles and subtitles should be punchy to grab your audience, but they should also be clear and specific. Be creative, but don’t use puns. Online audiences want to know exactly what they’re getting from your infographic.
Unless you have a subtitle that does the job, open with a brief introduction — fewer than 100 words — that explains what your infographic is about. It should also intrigue the reader enough to make them want to read on.
5. Less is more
Try to work to a maximum word count of 400 words. Less text will look better and attract more people. Too much text will turn them off.
Read the social media graphics guidelines: the principles of conveying data/information in as few words as possible also apply here.
6. Compartmentalise and signpost
Break up your information into sections/topics with meaningful sub-headings so that audiences can easily scan the infographic and find what they want.
These section headings should also work together to pull your user through your infographic.
7. Nudge them to act
Don’t forget your call to action (CTA). Your infographic should have a purpose.
Two or three strong action words here will direct the audience on what to do next.
The CTA is usually placed within a recognisable, rectangular device (such as in the ‘Template and examples’ section below) that the user can click on to access additional content.
How to be a good partner to the design team
Here’s how to prepare your scripts for design:
1.
Remove any comments and track changes from the script.
2.
Use square brackets for any text that shouldn’t be included in the document. You can use this text to tell the design team what is:
- The title
- The subtitle
- A standfirst
- A top-level/section heading and lower-level headings (if it’s complicated, you can use an A/B/C system to show the hierarchy of headings)
- A boxout/sidebar
- A call to action
3.
Format your footnotes consistently, or if you’re using hyperlinks place them on the right text.
4.
Suggest pullquotes and pullstats using comments in the Word file. It’s a good idea to format these correctly in your comment box — i.e. put the name and job title underneath the full quote.
5.
Provide a clean, proofread data sheet, which could be linked from the charts in the Word file. Make sure that the design team knows exactly where the data is for each chart.
6.
Charts should have only the key storyline data included. Make sure the data sheet matches this and the labels have been proofread.
7.
Designers should not be rekeying/typing any words, because that’s how errors creep in. So don’t just provide screenshots/images of your charts or tables — make sure they can just copy and paste the text from the data sheet.
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